The Yamaha YZF-R6 is undoubtedly one of the best middle-weight motorcycles out there, but not one of the most up-to-date ones. Nevertheless, the Japanese bike maker has been silently working on updating its extremely popular sportsbike it seems, and could introduce the all-new R6 by the end of this year possibly at the 2016 INTERMOT Motorcycle Show.
The teaser hints at a new offering from Yamaha's R World
Yamaha has put up a teaser on its website and social media channels of a new bike in the making from its 'R World'. The video however, has little to give away about the bike save for the incredible exhaust note, which is a strong giveaway of a middle-weight offering in the making. We believe the teaser also hints towards an all-new R6 is because the super successful flagship YZF-R1 is coming up to its second anniversary and Yamaha would want to release a new hit machine to keep up the momentum.
The teaser soundtrack hints at a multi-cylinder engine being revved to the brink. Now, this motor in all likelihood will be a flat-plane crankshaft unit instead of a cross-plane motor seen on the new Yamaha bikes. This will certainly give the R6 its individual identity in the bike maker's line-up, while also differentiating the model from the R1.
The teaser gives out little about the bike save for the exhaust note
This will certainly help the middle-weight segment internationally, which hasn't seen some striking sales figures in the past few years. With litre-class motorcycles being only slightly more expensive with more power and electronics to offer, it is necessary for companies to create a separate identity of the middle-weight offering, instead of just a scaled down version. This also means that the design language could possibly also be different from that of the new generation R1.
As for the other mechanicals, it is likely that Yamaha will retain the outgoing Deltabox frame on the 2017 R6, albeit with substantial tweaks, while the motorcycle will now be equipped with a plethora of electronic upgrades and rider assist systems.
The outgoing Yamaha YZF-R6 uses a 599cc in-line four-cylinder engine, liquid-cooled engine that is tuned to produce 122bhp of power and 65.7Nm of torque. It needs to be seen if the bike maker will increase the cubic capacity on the new R6's powerplant in a bid to comply with the stringent Euro5 emission norms or continue with the existing unit. In either case, power is likely to see a hike over the current model. Complete details however will be available only on October 4 as the teaser suggests, which is also the media day for the 2016 INTERMOT Show.
